According to Islamic law, capital punishment such as stoning requires witnesses at the time of penetration – 2 men, or 4 women. Watch this video and determine whether that was the case in the charges and ultimate sentencing of two sisters to death, by stoning.

It seems not. And if that is the case then why is the Iranian ‘judicial system’ sentencing these two women to death? Are they a killing system constantly in need of more people to murder? Are the pandering to the very extreme fundamentalist in their nation and others? Likely.

Iran’s government is barbaric and dangerous, not only to Israel and surrounding countries but particularly to its own people. Research Iran and capital punishment and join in the fight against it. Participate in a growing world voice attempting to overthrow the Iranian regime, which will ultimately bring more peace and calm in the region.

The Iranian people are generally good folk looking for ways and means of joining the world through education, business and spirit. Help them along.

We all are marginalized in one way or another.

I am a Jew and that needs no explanation. You are a woman, and of course that requires less. You are black, yellow, red, Hutu, Tutsi, Christian, Muslim, Zoroastrian, Aboriginal, a child, white, an adult or gay. You have all been tossed out of the mainstream courtyard of tolerance and  acceptance at one time or  another.

All of you have felt hatred directed your way.

Incredibly there is not a person on earth who in some way or another  is not a minority or seen as such. There is not a person on this earth who is not disliked by another, even if that ‘other’ is unknown to them.

Ask the English/Irish descendants living in Toronto  today how much of a majority they are and they will respond that a trip on a local subway will show them as being far more of a minority than ever before, and that status, increasing everyday. Ask them how safe they feel in ‘English/Irish’ Toronto and how much influence they will have in the future and the answer will be something like, “not much, eh!.”

So we are all at times marginalized and then at times we are not, and likely marginalizing others.  I say that because  it seems to be a survival thing. When I am on top, I will secure my position up there, to  keep on top,  by putting you down.

I am a man and was raised on morsels of chauvinism so I have demeaned women in my day. I have sat too long at a table waiting for my Mother or sisters to clean up after me.

I am white and have pondered the idea that a great majority of men and women in jail are black, and therefore, drawn the conclusion that blacks are more violent or prone to be institutionalized. This thought in of itself creates a negative energy in my head and mind – one I need to continually challenge and change.

I constantly defend Muslims as people who want peace but inwardly consider that they are a warring people with little desire for co-existence anywhere.

Am I a racist, a true chauvinist, with a propensity for violence or the ability to subjugate others? Mostly not. Somewhat, yes?

This is the human condition and while there are those individuals who harbor no negative  thoughts against others, and want only peace in our world, recognizing that most men, women and children want the same and are good – most of us are not that way.

I say this is the human condition because I watch nature and see that insects and bugs fight against one another for dominance; and I see that lions, tigers and bears do the same. I watch the world split up into territories, then nations, then states, than municipalities, then neighborhoods, then then then……

We seem to be tribal in that way to the extent that if someone new moves into our neighborhood or building they are suspect. We are the ant and they are the termite and we will build a stronger fortress to defend ourselves. From what? It doesn’t matter. They are the other.

They are different than we are. We need to marginalize them before they do the same to us. The above picture seems to reflect this.

We need to look inwardly and determine that people are mostly good and those who are not are the minority. While the minority can be vocal and dangerous – Nazis proved that – it is imperative we know that they are the smaller of the groups and therefore can be stymied, stopped from their evil ways.

Question:

1. Who do you really dislike or hate?

2. What would you do to those people given the chance?

3. Would you save one of their children given the chance?

4. Are you conscious of your negative feelings toward others, that you have created brush strokes of dislike/hatred, and are you consciously trying to change them?

Let me know the truth. Let us start here with a movement of reconciliation among all God’s creations, among all the people of the world. We have the capacity to give out negative energy, so we have the capacity to extend the opposite.

As Canadians mark Holocaust Education Week, it is a sobering thought to realize that the genocide in Darfur has lasted longer than the Holocaust itself. And it continues unabated.

I found the following letter on http://reachouttohorses.wordpress.com

Please read it. The author of the letter asks that we share this far and wide with individuals who can make a difference. My organization, Ve’ahavta, has worked for years in Zimbabwe and I can verify that what this man writes is very true.

Zimbabwe is a very dangerous place, now more so than ever, and while their ‘leader’ Robert Mugabe begins to loose his grip, he and the army generals and who have benefited from their power will destroy and hurt others on a daily basis – with the belief they will regain control.

Send this letter to your MP and/or  MPP, or member of Congress. It is a fact that voices of concern around the world can change things!!! You can make a difference. Do not be silent when you see evil, this time on the ground in Zimbabwe.  

Letter from Zimbabwe sent in by John Winter

I reckon that these are the last days of TKM and ZPF. The darkest hour is always before the dawn.

We are all terrified at what they are going to destroy next……..I mean they are actually ploughing down brick and mortar houses and one family with twin boys of 10 had no chance of salvaging anything when 100 riot police came in with AK47’s and bulldozers and demolished their beautiful house – 5 bedrooms and pine ceilings – because it was ‘too close to the airport’, so we are feeling extremely insecure right now.

You know – I am aware that this does not help you sleep at night, but if you do not know – how can you help? Even if you put us in your own mental ring of light and send your guardian angels to be with us – that is a help -but I feel so cut off from you all knowing I cannot tell you what’s going  on here simply because you will feel uncomfortable. There is no ways we can leave here so that is not an option.

I ask that you all pray for us in the way that you know how, and let me know that you are thinking of us and sending out positive vibes… that’s all. You can’t just be in denial and pretend/believe it’s not going on.

To be frank with you, it’s genocide in the making and if you do not believe me, read the Genocide Report by Amnesty International which says we are – IN level 7 – (level 8 is after it’s happened and everyone is in denial).

If you don’t want me to tell you these things-how bad it is-then it means you have not dealt with your own fear, but it does not help me to think you are turning your back on our situation. We need you, please, to get the news OUT that we are all in a fearfully dangerous situation here. Too many people turn their backs and say – oh well, that’s what happens in Africa

This Government has GONE MAD and you need to help us publicize our plight—or how can we be rescued? It’s a reality! The petrol queues are a reality, the pall of smoke all around our city is a reality, the thousands of homeless people sleeping outside in 0 Celsius with no food, water, shelter and bedding are a reality. Today a family approached me, brother of the gardener’s wife with two small children. Their home was trashed and they will have to sleep outside. We already support 8 adult people and a child on this property, and electricity is going up next month by 250% as is water.

How can I take on another family of 4 —–and yet how can I turn them away to sleep out in the open?

I am not asking you for money or a ticket out of here – I am asking you to FACE the fact that we are in deep and terrible danger and want you please to pass on our news and pictures. So PLEASE don’t just press the delete button! Help best in the way that you know how.

Do face the reality of what is going on here and help us SEND OUT THE WORD.. The more people who know about it, the more chance we have of the United Nations coming to our aid. Please don’t ignore or deny what’s happening.

Some would like to be protected from the truth BUT then, if we are eliminated, how would you feel? ‘If only we knew how bad it really was we could have helped in some way’.

[I know we chose to stay here and that some feel we deserve what's coming to us]

For now,— we ourselves have food, shelter, a little fuel and a bit of money for the next meal – but what is going to happen next? Will they start on our houses? All property is going to belong to the State now. I want to send out my Title Deeds to one of you because if they get a hold of those, I can’t fight for my rights.

Censorship!—-We no longer have SW radio [which told us everything that was happening] because the Government jammed it out of existence – we don’t have any reporters, and no one is allowed to photograph. If we had reporters here, they would have an absolute field day. Even the pro-Government Herald has written that people are shocked, stunned, bewildered and blown mindless by the wanton destruction of many folks homes, which are supposed to be ‘illegal’ but for which a huge percentage actually do have licenses.

Please! – do have some compassion and HELP by sending out the articles and personal reports so that something can/may be done.

‘I am one. I cannot do everything, —but I can do something.. And because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do. What I can do, I should do. And what I should do, by the grace of God,
I will do.’

Edward Everett Hale

http://reachouttohorses.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/a-letter-from-zimbabwe/

BELFAST, Northern Ireland – The thugs used bricks and bottles to drive more than 100 Romanian Gypsies from their homes in a wave of attacks. On Wednesday, the victims were sheltering in a community centre after a church plucked them off a Belfast street.

The grim images from this week – families carrying possessions in bundled blankets, a mother clutching her 5-day-old baby – are more evidence of rising anti-immigrant sentiment across Europe, but also of a situation unique to Northern Ireland: new fault lines in its tragic history of ethnic divisions.

About 20 Romanian families, carrying their belongings in suitcases, duffel bags and blankets, were being sheltered on the community centre’s indoor tennis courts. One man carried an accordion, while parents gripped the hands of young children and some women covered their heads with jackets and sweaters to avoid being photographed.

The families were taken in by the City Church on Tuesday after youths attacked their homes in a working-class neighbourhood of south Belfast, smashing windows and hurling threats. Local authorities moved them to the roomier community centre Wednesday morning. Some said the attackers had guns, but there were no reports of serious injuries.

“They made signs like they wanted to cut my brother’s baby’s throat,” said one man, Couaccusil Filuis. “They said they wanted to kill us.”

Police said the racist attacks started last week, with gangs smashing house windows and attacking cars. The violence flared again on Monday when youths hurling bottles and Nazi salutes attacked an anti-racism rally called to support the migrants.

Belfast City council press officer Mark Ashby said the majority of the victims were Roma, or Gypsies, from Romania.

Romania’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attacks and urged British authorities to take measures to avoid more racist violence.

Marian Mandache, from the Romanian Gypsy NGO Romani Criss, said the Northern Ireland violence was the latest in a disturbing trend of attacks across Europe.

“Starting with Italy in 2007, there have been waves of … racist attacks against Roma,” said Mandache. “Afterwards, there were attacks in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania.”

The Northern Ireland government said the displaced Romanians would be given temporary accommodation in Belfast. But many said they wanted to leave Northern Ireland.

“We want to go home because right now we are not safe here,” said a woman who gave only her first name, Maria. “We want to go back home to Romania, everybody right now does.”

Racial tensions are rising across Europe as the pace of migration grows and the economy worsens. Far-right parties picked up seats in many countries in elections for the European Parliament earlier this month. The whites-only British National Party, which calls for the “voluntary repatriation” of immigrants, increased its share of the vote and won its first two European seats.

Europe’s 7 to 9 million Roma people face widespread prejudice in Romania – where estimates of their numbers vary between 500,000 and 2 million – and other countries. The European Union’s rights agency has said Roma face “overt discrimination” in housing, health care and education, despite many government programs designed to help them.

Since Romania joined the EU in 2007, thousands of Roma have moved west to richer European countries, where many live in squalid camps with no access to health services, education, basic sanitary facilities or jobs. More than 700 encampments have been built in Italy, where Gypsies have been met with hostility and blamed for begging and street crime.

Northern Ireland has only a tiny Romanian population – fewer than 1,000 people, according to a government estimate.

But a number of Romanian Gypsies have moved to Belfast since 2007 and have become a visible presence, selling newspapers on the city’s streets.

“The fact is we’ve seen a lot of things change here – people selling the Belfast Telegraph on the streets, something you didn’t see before,” said Jolena Flett of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities. “They are easily identifiable.”

“When people are looking for a fight, as a lot of people are now, just because of frustrations in their own lives, anything will spark it off.”

Northern Ireland’s surge in racist violence over the past few years has coincided with the decline in Northern Ireland’s traditional conflict between paramilitary groups rooted in rival Catholic and Protestant districts.

Much of the violence has been blamed on Protestant youths, who once would have vented their anger against Catholics or joined outlawed pro-British paramilitary groups.

Racist attacks have become especially common in south Belfast, a diverse area that is home to Queen’s University, some of the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods and a Protestant district known as The Village, a close-knit working-class neighbourhood where curbstones are painted in pro-British red white and blue.

Dozens of families, including Chinese, Africans and Poles, have been driven from their homes in recent years, and student houses – occupied by a mix of Catholics and Protestants – have been attacked by Protestant gangs.

Patrick Yu, director of the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, accused the perpetrators of seeking “ethnic cleansing of all minorities out of the Village and the surrounding area.”

The latest bout of racial tension in Belfast has escalated since an international soccer match between Poland and Northern Ireland sparked rioting three months ago. Flett said more than 40 Polish families had been forced out of their homes in south Belfast since then.

Police said there was no evidence the violence against the Romanians had been orchestrated by paramilitary groups, and politicians from both sides of the sectarian divide were quick to condemn the attacks.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, a Catholic and former IRA commander, said the attacks had been carried out by “racist criminals within our society who are unrepresentative of the vast majority of the people of Belfast.”

“I am appalled at this situation,” said Health Minister Michael McGimpsey, a Protestant from the Ulster Unionist Party. “There is no place in Northern Ireland for this kind of racist violence and abuse.”

-

Associated Press Writers Meera Selva and Nardine Saad in London and Alina Wolfe Murray in Bucharest, Romania contributed to this report. Lawless reported from London.

_________________________________________________________________________

Avrum’s Comment: Oh, damn, they must have forgotten this. Whoops!

Iran: the last executioner of children

See this Amnesty Link: www.amnestyusa.org/all-countries/iran/page.do?id=1011172

Iran is one of the only countries left in the world today that still executes children and child offenders (those accused of committing an offense when they were under 18 years of age).  At least 130 juvenile offenders face execution, but the total number could be much higher as many death penalty cases in Iran are believed to go unreported.  At least eight child offenders were executed in 2007. Iran is the only country in the world known to have executed a juvenile offender in 2008. At least seven juvenile offenders have been executed in 2008. The last known execution, of Gholamreza H.,  took place on 29 October 2008.  Behnam Zare was executed on 26 August 2008. He was only 15 at the time the alleged crime took place.

Call to Action: Involve yourself in fighting human rights atrocities in Iran. The number of youth, children and mentally ill executed in this country is astounding  (see link below).  Iran is a country with some very fine people; it’s leadership however is barbaric. If you think this is hyperbole do some blogging. While you do your research, remember that Iran is at the forefront of co-ordinating Durban 2, and its ‘leadership’ will be speaking at this ‘human rights conference’.

Idea: Start a human rights committee among your friends. Determine a country you want to help. Iran is a good place to direct your efforts. Amnesty International has shown letter writing is very affective.

We live in a free country in a most beautiful time and can express ourselves as we see fit. We therefore have the responsibility to speak loudly on behalf of those who don’t.

For More Information see ‘Iran Human Rights’ website  www.iranhr.net/spip.php?article634